Thursday, May 28, 2009

PEOPLE of Bangalore, who supported ruling BJP in Karnataka in a big way by blessing it with all the three Lok Sabha seats in the city and leaving only the Bangalore rural seat to JD(S), are being sought to be rewarded by a grateful Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa with the launching of the ambitious fourth stage works under the second phase of Cauvery water supply scheme on Monday.

The ambitious scheme aimed at bringing an additional 500 million litres a day (MLD) supply to meet the growing demands of the city is being funded with loan assistance of Rs 3,384 crore fromJapan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) for implementing the project and Rs 300 crore has been earmarked for 2009-10.

Works related to supply of untreated water, processing and pumping of waters in three centres are being taken up. Cauvery water would be brought from Shiva Anekat to Torekadanahalli, where water would be treated using advanced technology. As Bangalore is situated above 1,500 ft from the river base and the water has to flow upwards, water would be pumped from T.K.Halli, Harohalli and Tataguni pumping centres. The BWWSB, established in 1964, conceived the Cauvery Water Supply Scheme and implemented the first stage in 1974 with three more stages being implemented in 1982, 1993 and 2002. Out of the 840 MLD of water presently being supplied by BWSSB to Bangalore, as much as 810 MLD was met by Cauvery river from the four stages of the scheme.

BWSSB has entrusted work of supplying steel plates required for the manufacturer of 2,700 mm diameter water pipes to Central public sector undertaking, Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), which would supply 86,000 tonnes of MS plates at a cost of Rs 300 crore.

The chief minister said the BWSSB would install meters to beneficiaries in over 350 slums identified in the city at its own cost.

Yeddyurappa said the government planned to create four mini-Lalbaghs on the lines of the world famous botanical garden Lalbagh and also an equal number of Bal Bhavans in different parts of the city. Plans were afoot to build four major hospitals in four directions of the city and the necessary land would be acquired soon.

The chief minister announced plans to lead a ministerial delegation to New Delhi soon to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the newly inducted central ministers in the union cabinet, S M Krishna and M Veerappa Moily, both former state chief ministers, to seek more funds for improving Bangalore’s infrastructure facilities.